2014 was yet another year with great returns for our activities. Our financial investments grew 15% in total and equities gave 35% return. This is quite astonishing given the turbulent market conditions.

Active Brands and Nizi International showed steady healthy growth and we are also pleased to see these companies showing nice bottom line returns too. These results have not come easy and are results of our team’s hard dedicated work over many years. The job is far from finished but it is always good to get a confirmation that we’re on the right track.

The US equity markets have been growing every year since 2009 and 2014 was the 6^th consecutive year where the indices have grown. 2011 was a rough year for Norwegian and European investors. But we see tendencies to a more nervous market. So the question is: is 2015 going to the 7^th consecutive year with growth or are we going to look like idiots. If we sell all our assets now –at least we’re idiots with money.

Selling all long positions is a big decision to make. In a market where it is difficult to see the end of zero interest the only thing that looks sensible to do is to own stocks – or some real estate. Euro-zone is not likely to increase interest levels in the near future and I am willing to bet the FED is not going to do anything in that department either this year.

Geopolitical turmoil is not making things easier. Putin seems eager to grow his empire and take back some lost territory. IS is creating northern Iraq into a living hell for the people living there and difficult for companies like DNO to do their normal business. The Japanese debt burden will of course at some stage burst, but the question remain; is it going to have an impact on world economy? I doubt it. Chinese growth is what the authorities say it is. That is just how things are over there. I wish I could do the same. Return on investments in 2015 is going to be 15% – again!

As a Norwegian I’m concerned that the low oil price will prevail and stay at 50 dollars per barrel or even lower for too long. For world economy it is probably a good thing. However oil-producing countries such as Norway and Russia accumulated huge capital gains during the years of high oil prices and placed those gains in global capital markets. This is not likely to continue and thus cause a vacuum in the demand for stocks. This does not mean the equity prices must go down – but the volumes will most likely drop.

Then there is the deflation ghost. Inflation level in the Euro zone is close to zero, which means they at times are in deflation. But is this really a bad thing? In the short run I would not worry and if Mario Draghi starts printing money like never before we’ll probably see inflation increasing again – at least if the money comes in play in markets and to consumers. This will be the case if banks are pushing for higher lending and we’ll see increase in velocity of money. If we on top of this experience unemployment rates coming down, then I would definitely say it is hope for Europe

With all these uncertainties in mind – we still believe in steady global growth slightly north of 3% in 2015. We will continue to invest in sectors we feel confident about such as fish farming and health care. Over time we believe in this strategy and together with a dedicated team in our group of companies I strongly believe we’re going to progress in 2015.

A special thank you to my team in Oslo who delivered results that makes me the proud chairman of Holta Invest.

Chairman Holta

Bruxelles 8.1.2015